The Princess And The Raven
by LollipopCloudsandHoneyTyphoons
Summary: Duck and her friends Pike and Lillie were born Swan Princesses - beings with the purest of hearts and souls. Prince Mytho and his family are cursed Ravens seeking pure hearts to use the power to destroy the world... But what is Mytho to do when he falls in love with his enemy - a certain clumsy redhead? M for content and Future Lemons!
1. Chapter 1

_Duck stared at the massive black bird in front of her. It stood perched on top of her mother's grave._

_The raven peered at her with narrowed blood red eyes – eyes that made her shiver. Goosebumps rose on the pale skin on her arms and she stepped backward. _

_Cocking it's head, the bird spread it's beautiful dark wings and rose them high on either side of itself. The little red head screamed as hundreds of much smaller ravens came from all kinds of places, swarming around the larger one. Duck covered her head before cowering. They circled around the raven in a tornado like form until Duck could no longer see it._

_The swarm of birds grew quicker until they were all only a dark blur. Their wings began to hum._

_Duck gave a soft gasp as the "tornado" disappeared, vanishing from the bottom. Sitting in the raven's place was a boy with those same blood red eyes._

**July...**

**[BEEP]**

Duck's alarm went off abruptly, definitely late, and woke her with a start.

Her curly, strawberry peach hair was all over her bed as she pulled the covers off of her body and blinked to adjust her sapphire eyes to the morning light. She didn't even have time to stretch or yawn when her room mates began to bang on her dorm door.

"Duck! Wake up, already!"Pike shouted with another hit to the door.

"You can't do this! Mr. Cat almost called the wedding planner yesterday!" Lillie whined and knocked gently.

"Oh, no!" Duck muttered, crawling out of bed. She snatched a brush from her dresser on her way to her closet and dragged it through her long tresses.

"Every single day!" she hurriedly took off her lacy white night gown. Duck opened one of her drawers and put on her bra. A moment later, she had on her school uniform her white knee socks on her legs. Duck didn't have time to put her hair in her usual braid, so she put it in a messy bun that left most of her hair down at her shoulders towards the front.

Biting her lip, she sighed at the sight of herself in the mirror. Same as always – a small, 17 year old girl with way too long hair and huge, babyish eyes. Her eyes wandered over to her chest. Yes, she had wanted that to miraculously change, too, but her wishes never seemed be granted.

"_Duuuuuck!" _

Both the pleading voices of her friends made her heart beat quicken as she remembered how late she was. Duck ran to grab her bag and threw open the door to see her impatient room mates standing in the hallway.

"There!" Duck's eyes gleamed, "Only 3 minutes late today!"

Lillie giggled, her cheeks turning pink, and she reached a hand up to cover her mouth.

"Oh, Duck.." she laughed, "You're so _cute_."

The red head frowned, turning to look at Pike. Pike gave Duck a smug smile.

"Well... Duck, you should really _look _ before you walk out the door to make sure EVERYTHING is on..." she pointed to Duck's lower half and Duck's eyes widened.

"_NOOOO!"_

How could she have forgotten to put on her _skirt_?!

_**Meanwhile..**_

"So, my son," a disembodied voice rang through a dark realm covered in raven's feathers, "How is your progress coming along?"  
Anyone might have thought the voice was speaking to itself, for there was no one else seen inside the realm, but soon, a boy appeared, lying sprawled in the black feathers like it were a bed.

The prince looked up at the abyss of a sky with his ruby eyes, giving a long, drawn out sigh.

"Father..." he spoke with a smooth, yet slightly sad voice, "You must forgive me."  
"What is it you need my forgiveness for, my son?"  
The prince reached up to push his shoulder length snow white hair – similar to dove feathers- out of his beautiful face.

"I still feel guilty for failing my mission in my old school.. I tried finding a pure heart for you again at a pool party last night, but... None of the women around me are enough."

"Perhaps you and the other ravens will find purity in the new school you've transferring in."

"Maybe you're right... the others have a good feeling about this one."

"Ha," the voice sounded amused, "How unlucky for those sweet little girls."

"Yes, how unlucky.. There's bound to be at least _one_ girl with an all too pure heart. Today should be really exciting."

"Mytho." the voice spoke again, this time a little more gravely, "You know you must find a pure heart if you want your father to live. Need I remind you that each heart is another five hundred thousand years more."

"I understand, father." Mytho rolled onto his stomach. "I will get you a heart immediately."

"Excellent. But you be sure to devour as many hearts in the process. You'll need to be strong as well if you're going to be the next Raven King."  
Mytho's lips curled into a mischievous smile, his ruby eyes darkening.

"Yes, father."  
__

Lillie, Pike, and Duck bit into their warm, fluffy croissants all at the same time. Lillie closed her eyes and sighed in content. Pike grinned before devouring her croissant in seconds. Duck grinned widely and slowly ate her's, careful to savor it's taste.

"Thank _goodness_ we bought these from the bakery in time..."  
Lillie and Pike glanced at her.

"If you don't wake up early enough, we won't be able to get breakfast before school." Pike said with a mouth full of food.

Duck pouted, "What were you guys doing outside the dorm room this morning, anyway?"

Pike laughed, "Spying on all of the sexy upperclassmen."

"If you both have enough free time in the morning, why don't you guys get the breakfast and wake me up? You know my alarms never work..."  
"Well that's rude!" Lillie stood up from the bench, gathered her things, and turned away from her. "Pike and I are the older ones! You wouldn't understand! We don't have all of that free time you do... we want to get out and spy on cute guys like we did in our freshman years!"

"Yeah, Duck," Pike smirked, "_You_ have all the free time. Why don't _you_ ever spy on cute boys?"

Duck blushed, "Oh... I... I haven't really seen that many cute guys before... maybe I just haven't had one catch my eye yet.."

Lillie rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right. You haven't been spying on cute guys because you're always stuck in your art studio until midnight. So you wake up _late_.."

Duck blushed, "Just because I'm a freshman doesn't mean I have to stalk guys! I'm here_ because _I'm an artist! What else?"

"Whatever. But _we_ stay behind so we can ALL get in trouble. You're the youngest, so me and Pike have to be your big sisters and wake you every morning."  
Pike grinned and winked at Duck, "Big sisters, huh?"  
Duck rolled her eyes, "You guys would be horrible older sisters."  
Lillie gasped and turned to narrow her eyes at Duck, ready to say something back when the sound of the Gold Crown Performing Arts Academy warning bell reached their ears.

"And NOW we're late!" Duck grabbed her bag and took off. Lillie and Pike giggled and ran after their "younger sister."  
_**1**__**st**__** block ~**_

"For this problem, you will have to use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the missing side length, and _then_ you will be able to multiply the side lengths to find the total surface area..."  
Duck did her best to take her notes in math, but she got bored not long after writing down everything on the entire first page.

"Oh! Did you see them? The new transfer students?!"

"You mean that group of teens that were in the office this morning?"

"I've never seen them before! They're _gorgeous!_"

"I heard all 7 of them are family..."

"All of them?"

"I think they're just cousins, actually.."

"Who cares? Did you see how hot the guys were?"

"There weren't many girls..."  
"Aw, poor _Harrison._"  
"Shut up, Evangeline."  
"Did you see that guy with the hair and the eyes?"

"Uh... I don't know, Evangeline, Could you be a bit more descriptive?"

"His hair is _snow _white, and his eyes are blood red!"

"Ohhh... yeah, I guess he looked pretty cool... What about that girl with the curly dark hair and the red eyes? She's pretty hot."

"Eh... She's cute, I guess. I can tell her smiles are fake, though."

Duck became curious and twisted around in her seat to look at the twins Harrison and Evangeline.

The siblings fixated their golden eyes on her and stared.

Duck blushed a little, "Uh... sorry, I uh, couldn't help but overhear-"  
"-Of course you couldn't," Harrison folded his arms over his chest, "We don't even sit a whole foot away from you."  
Evangeline poked him in the ribs with her elbow, "Be nice," she turned to look at Duck, smiling softly, "Yeah?"

"Uh... we have transfer students?"  
"Isn't it cool? I think there have only been a few people that have actually seen them, but they're all so glamorous that it's likely half of the school is aware they're all here."  
"Duck, Evangeline? Have anything you want to share with the class?"

Duck turned around in her seat, quickly, apologizing to the teacher.

"I'm sorry! Um, please forgive me, It was my faul-"  
"Yes, in fact!" Evangeline stood up on her desk. Harrison covered his face with his hands, muttered something, and laughed. Duck watched Evangeline as she announced something the teacher was probably getting around to.

"We have hot transfer students and I am _so_ bored right now."

The teacher, Mrs. Flowers, glared at Evangeline and demanded for her to sit back down in her seat before she fell.

"Well, since your classmate brought it up, I should explain... We will have transfer students today, but they won't actually attend until tomorrow. Today, you_ might_ see them. The principal will be showing them around. Remember, if you meet one of the Ravenwings today, please be sure to greet them nicely. We need a good impression on the students."

A moment later, the classroom was alive with chatter about the Ravenwing family. Duck was in deep thought about what Pike and Lillie had been teasing her about earlier.

Often, they'd make fun of her for always staying in her studio and never paying attention to guys or dating.

_Maybe I could date one of the guys in the Ravenwing family? Yeah, right! _

Duck immediately blushed at the thought and shook her head, laughing.

_**4th Block ~ Raven Wing Family's POV**_

"Ahh, it's lunch time, finally!" Rue stretched and curled up next to her oldest cousin Fakir on the picnic blanket she had been glad to have remembered to bring. Femio was lying in a tree that stood in front of them, gazing at himself in the mirror. Autor sat on the ground with his back against the tree, his nose in a book, as usual. Constantine and Uzura were already eating the lunch Rue had packed, and Mytho stood, leaning against a tree, his backed turned as he scanned the forest not far from the Academy.

Fakir smiled over at Rue and stretched out his arm so she could lay on it. She accepted his offer and gave a sigh of content.

"The principal's kind of annoying, isn't he?" Fakir looked up at the sky, speaking to no one in particular, but expected an answer from at least one of his cousins.

Autor frowned, turning a page in his book, "Well, at least he spent more time talking about the library than he did that stupid garden. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm looking forward to being a library assistant."  
Femio laughed and turned to look down at Autor, "They do have cute girls at our Academy, am I right? I've already been given 28 phone numbers."

Constantine ran a finger through his dark brown hair and smirked up at Femio.

"Really? I've gotten 53. Come on, Femio, you can do better."  
Femio almost fell out of the tree, he was so startled. He turned to glare his deep magenta eyes at Constantine.

"You're right, I can do better! I didn't charm them this time, remember? We were only walking down the hallways. If I had stopped to talk to one of them, I definitely would have gotten more numbers!"

"Uh huh."

"Seriously, Consta! I saw you! You were talking to every girl that walked up to you! You had a better advantage, you cheater!"

"Don't call me _Consta_ unless you want your pretty little face_ ruined_."  
Femio winced and crossed his arms over his chest, looking away.

"Geez.."

Rue laughed, "Wow, Femio, I still can't believe that after all that power you have, you're afraid of a 13 year old."

"What's that supposed to mean? That I'm not the most powerful?" Constantine narrowed his eyes at her, taking another bite of his sandwich.

Femio laughed, "I'm not afraid of him. What I'm afraid of, is him ruining parts of my face. I can't have that. It's too precious and I've worked to hard to get it this way..."

Constantine rolled his eyes and climbed up the tree Femio was on while he wasn't paying attention.

When Femio noticed, he yelped and fell off of his branch.

Constantine laughed down at him, grabbing a bright red apple off of a tree branch.

"I was just getting an apple for Uzura. Why are you so jumpy?"

Femio blushed, pouting and looking away. Constantine tossed the apple down to Uzura and she caught it, laughing at Femio.

Uzura noticed Mytho seemed unsettled. She stood up and walked over to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He turned to her and smiled softly.

"Hey."

Uzura cocked her head, "You okay, Mytho?"  
Rue and Fakir sat up.

"Yeah, you haven't said anything since we left the kingdom." Fakir raised an eyebrow.

Mytho sighed, "Have you guys not noticed?"  
"Noticed what?" Femio frowned and pulled a few leaves out of his hair. Constantine hopped down from the tree to walk over to Uzura and Mytho.

"I don't smell anything..." he sniffed.

"My scent must be stronger, then. I can already smell a pure heart. It's somewhere in that school, and we've walked everywhere, but that girl just keeps on moving... It's annoying.. We've been searching for a pure heart for a year now and there's finally one here."  
"Maybe there are more than one?" Rue asked.

"Perhaps, but there is a heart that has the slight scent of a raven and pureness, I don't get it.." Mytho ran a hand through his hair. Fakir sighed.

"I'll look for it, then." Constantine volunteered.

Mytho shook his head, "No, it's mine."

Constantine would have disagreed with him, but the look in his older cousin's blood red eyes said it all. This wasn't something he should argue with him about.

"Whatever." Constantine turned back to his food.

Rue stretched again, "Alright, Mytho, if you want it that badly, you can have it. Make sure to at least give us a little bit of the credit when you tell uncle."  
Mytho smiled, "I'm off, then." he snapped his fingers and he was gone. What was left of him was a raven feather.

Uzura picked it up and turned to sit next to Rue, "It's a shame... I thought we were really going to go to this school. It actually looked kinda fun. They had a band and they needed more drummers."

Rue threw an arm around Uzura and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead.

"Maybe uncle will let us return even after our mission would be complete."  
Uzura smiled up at Rue with her huge blue eyes.

"Silly," she laughed, "The world will be destroyed by the time we hand that heart over to uncle."

Rue giggled."Right. Silly me for forgetting."

**Meanwhile**, Mytho had entered the Academy once again and inhaled. He picked up the sweet scent of the pure heart almost immediately. He followed the scent up a flight of stairs, and then down the hall, stopping in front of the door of an art room.

Duck wiped her forehead, mentally kicking herself for being so careless as to get paint all over her face and clothes.

Dipping her paintbrush inside of the blob of red paint on her palette, she turned back to her canvas.

She had no idea what she was painting, but she was surrounded by sketches and art pieces she had started off drawing the same. It was always a painting of a black bird surrounded by either blood or destruction.

The only colors Duck used in her paintings were black or red. It wasn't something she could explain – even though her friends would ask when she showed them a new painting.

She asked herself the same thing.

Most of her paintings came from horrible images she saw in her dreams.

Recently, she had had a dream about the time she had met a strange boy when she was younger. He was a very beautiful child, with feather like white hair and curious blood red eyes that watched her every move. The boy, named Siegfried, had scared her at first – he possessed strange powers that could kill anything he desired, and seemed to shut everyone else out but her. Though it took time for Siegfried to trust her, he and Duck had become friends.

And he disappeared one day.

Duck shook her head. She'd been thinking too much about the dream, but it had left her so curious. Would she ever see him again in the future? Where was he now?

It left her wondering.

Before she knew it, her hand was moving on it's own, dipping the brush in water and then in white paint to draw out the hair, gray and blue for the armor he'd worn, and then she dipped the paint in black for the ravens that had surrounded him in a tornado like fashion.

Duck looked down at her paint. She wouldn't be able to get the eyes correct if she didn't darken the red.

_**Creek...**_

"Hm?"

Surprised at the sound of the door opening, Duck snapped out of her state of concentration and spun around to greet her visitor.

But when she saw who was at the door, she dropped everything in her hands and gasped. Her paint palette and paintbrush fell to the wooden floor, splattering it with paint.

Just across the room, leaning casually in the doorway, was someone Duck was almost positive was an older Siegfried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for those of you that read or review!**

**This actually wasn't my first Princess Tutu fanfic, (answering "Rose" ) I had one before, but I decided to delete it because everything I wanted to happen pretty much happened in the first chapter and I had no idea what to put next... anyway, I am DEFINITELY keeping this one up, so enjoy and please review! It can be one or two words, I don't care! **

His snow white hair, his hungry, dark eyes, his gorgeous, flawless face...well, _most _of him was the same.

What was different about this "older Siegfried" was that he was much, much taller than the child had been, and he was wearing The Gold Crown Academy uniform for the boys. Of course, this would have meant that he had aged like she had.

Also, he seemed even more handsome than the child had been.

Duck's wide blue eyes wandered down to his uniform. The complete outfit was a loose white uniform shirt covered with a black jacket, but he wasn't wearing the jacket. Instead, he wore the white uniform shirt with it unbuttoned at his well toned chest.

Her cheeks reddened when she found she could make out the prince's muscular form underneath, but she struggled to take her eyes away. She had never seen someone this attractive before – of course, she'd be a little curious, but she felt extremely shy and a little perverted at the same time.

As if realizing for the first time that she had dropped paint all over the ground, she gasped and took her eyes away from him as she dropped to her knees to try and straighten the mess up.

Duck felt the boy's beautiful, mysterious eyes on her and felt her blush deepen.

"Did I startle you?"

Duck felt her heart flutter. Even his voice was beautiful.

She looked up at him and stammered, "Eh.. heh, uh.. yeah.."  
The prince walked toward her, his ruby eyes never leaving hers. Duck thought her heart would explode from all the excitement when he bent down so they were eye level. He paused for a second, smirking at as their faces became only inches apart, then lent down to help her gather her paintbrushes.

"Sorry to intrude. I was just exploring. My cousins and I are taking a look around the school."

Duck looked up at him, "...Could you be one of the Ravenwing family members...?"

He smiled, "So you've heard of us?"

_He must be the boy Evangeline was talking about in math last block..._

Duck blushed when she realized he was expecting a reply.

"...Oh, yeah, the whole school knows about you guys." she gave him a friendly smile, "You're really popular, actually."

The prince handed Duck all of her paintbrushes and she stood up, placing them on the table behind him. He stood up as well, standing about a whole foot taller than her. Duck felt shorter than usual.

Suddenly remembering her math teacher's request to be friendly to the transfer students, Duck shyly reached out a hand and looked up at him.

"My name's Duck Swanheart.. It's a pleasure to meet you.."

The prince surprised her, smiling softly and taking her hand in his. He pressed his lips gently to the back of it and the young woman was embarrassed to say she felt like a princess when he did.

"Well, my name is Mytho Ravenwing, and trust me, the pleasure is mine."

Duck blushed all the way to the tips of her ears. His bright red eyes slowly looked back at hers. Mytho seemed to be the perfect name for him. It was unique, but fit him perfectly.

"Oh... uh.." Duck laughed nervously until a devilish grin crossed Mytho's face and his eyes began to gleam.

"Apparently, Miss Swanheart... there's something you have that I need..." Mytho touched Duck's chest with a finger and traced it down the valley in between her breasts.

Duck stopped blushing and watched. "E..eh?"

Without another word, Mytho pushed Duck against the table she stood in front of and placed both hands behind her so she was trapped.

"Ah... what are you..."

"I'll be in a lot of trouble if I don't have it, so will you give it to me? Please?"

The way Mytho had said the sentence sounded more like a demand instead of a question. Duck thought hard for a moment before blushing furiously. Panicking, she brought her fists up and began to punch at his face, neck, and chest.

"Ewww! Are you pervert?! Get off of me! I'm too young for something like that!"

Mytho paused and his smile disappeared. It took awhile for him to realize that she had gotten the wrong idea about what he was asking for. He felt himself become slightly embarrassed and was sure it showed when his cheeks burned. He would have to turn this situation around so he could get her heart at a better time. It seemed to be a shame to kill her now, anyway.

"No, you _idiot_!" he yelled at her and pulled away, grabbing her fists, "I... I was asking you if you could be my guide around the school!"

Duck stopped struggling and gave a sigh of relief.

"_Ohhh._ Well, why didn't you just say that, then?" she frowned at him.

Mytho glanced away, "I was … getting around to it..."

Duck jumped off of the table and took off her apron, revealing her uniform.

"Nnn, I guess I've got free time.." she smiled. Maybe this was her chance to get to know someone popular before anyone else had. Pike and Lillie would be so proud of her. Now they wouldn't stop teasing her about not knowing any guys...

It was at that moment that Mytho noticed the very intriguing paintings hanging around the entire studio. They were dark, disturbing things, with each drawing having at least one, massive black bird in it. Anyone from Mytho's kingdom would have admired such a painting. It was one of the many things that attracted their attention.

The paintings were perfect descriptions of what kind of chaos Ravens were capable of causing.

Mytho's eyes wandered over to the beautiful woman next to him.

And yet, they had been painted by a human.

"Did you... paint all of these?" he glanced around the room again. Duck beamed.

"Yep... do you like them? Or... do you think they're weird?"

Mytho shook his head. Why in the world would anyone call such intriguing pieces of art weird?

"They're fascinating." he never lied about something he really liked.

Duck gave a soft gasp and glanced away, blushing in both embarrassment and pride. Mytho had been the only guy to ever say something like that about her artwork.

"Th... thanks..."

Mytho raised an eyebrow, "I'm the first person to say that, aren't I?"

Duck blushed and shook her head frantically, "No, of course not! Why would you think so?"

"Well.. I'll admit, they're not the prettiest things in the world..."

Duck fumed, " What! And who are you to be saying that?"

Mytho folded his arms over his chest and smirked, "Well, my cousins and I have been excepted into this Performing Arts School because we're talented in every subject."

Duck stopped fuming and stared at him in shock, "R...really?"

"Really."

"Really, really?"

"Really, really."

"Really, really, really?"

"Yes."  
"Really, really, really, REALLY?"

"Yeah.."  
"Really, really-"  
"_Yes_! I just told you! Is it so hard to believe?"  
"Well... yeah... I mean... most of the students at this school are only here because of a one or a few talents.. I'm just surprised... are you all really good at everything, or are you lying?"  
"Why would I lie about something like that?"  
"Well, in case you haven't noticed yourself, you seem pretty snobby."  
Mytho glared at her and Duck shivered.

"Snobby? You barely know me..."  
Duck felt herself smile softly, "You're right.. sorry."  
Mytho stared at her for a moment, surprised she could smile so sweetly, and struggled to hide his light blush.

"Well, how do I seem to you?" she asked, leaning forward. Mytho's blush deepened and he pulled away.

"Uh.. what are you doing?"

"I'm just asking you a question... I'm not good with first impressions, but I've never asked anyone how they felt about me the first time I met them, so I thought I should ask."

Mytho stopped blushing, thinking of what he could say.

_Well... she's... pretty.. bubbly, I guess..._

"You're... peculiar."

Duck's jaw dropped. He'd said it so simply that she didn't feel special at all.

"Aw, come on... at least say I'm really loud, or something... you make me sound so lame."  
"Ugh! It doesn't matter! Are you going to be my school guide or not, Duck Swanheart?"  
Duck smiled again, "Sure, Mytho Ravenwing."  
Mytho suppressed a smile. His name actually sounded really... _good_ on her lips.

The bell rang for the lunch break to end. Duck laughed nervously when Mytho narrowed his eyes sat her and exploded.

"How annoying! If you hadn't have talked so much, I probably would have been familiar with half of the school by now."

"See, you are snobby!"

"No, I'm not, you're just difficult to stay patient with!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"  
A group of girls stopped short in the hallway, staring through the door at Mytho, who turned around when Duck noticed them.

"Oh my gosh! It's Mytho Ravenwing!"  
"Hey! My name's-"

"Who cares?! Would you be interested in joining our music club?!"  
"We heard you play the piano very well!"

"Shut up! I told you guys, he wouldn't be interested in something like that!"

"Yeah! Come join our Drama Club!"

Duck gave a quick glance in Mytho's direction. He looked nervous, stepping backward as the massive group of girls tried to rush through the doorway at once. When they got stuck, Mytho turned around and glanced frantically around the room.

"Damn, I need to get out of here."

"Huh? Why? They're just fans, I mean-"

"The window! That's perfect."

Duck watched as Mytho rushed across the room to the big window with light streaming through. He pulled it open and without another word, jumped onto the roof and ran off.

Duck thought quickly. The girls fell through the door, screaming as they tangled themselves up on the floor and attempted to pull themselves to their feet.

"Wait, Mytho!"

"Come back!"

"Just sign this form and you'll be in the music club... FOREVER."

"You'll be so much more popular, too!"

"Uh... I think he said he was going to go sign up for band." Duck yelled over the noise.

All of a sudden, the girls stopped, stared at each other, and untangled themselves from the "net."

"Quick! Get him before he signs up!"  
"We can't let him do that!"

"Yeah! Rip all of the forms to shreds!"

Once the girls had gone, and her room was silent again, Duck gave a quiet sigh before gathering her things and running off to her next block.

_**Meanwhile...**_

Edel glanced around frantically. She could pick up the smell of several, filthy ravens inside of the Gold Crown Academy and she knew they were up to no good. Turning a handle on the small container in her hands, she hid behind a tree and stared down at the four rings that held the power to destroy the demonic Raven King.

When Edel listened hard enough, she could hear the beautiful, humming bird sound of a 3 pure hearts within the academy. One of them was the strongest of all, and she knew she would have to find that one first.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ohhhh! Geeeez!"

Duck stopped running, causing hallway traffic.

She had forgotten to bring her books with her while she went to her singing class. Turning around and apologizing to the kids she'd bumped into, she pushed her way through the sea of people, which only slowed her down more as she headed back to her studio.

When she turned the corner, she stopped running altogether.

Mytho stood, surrounded by dozens of squealing girls inviting him into their clubs.

She watched him in a amusement as he was careful to speak to every single girl, letting them down gently. There were no tears, but really excited girls that had even had the chance to talk to him.

_Hmm.. he's something else._

Mytho stopped talking to Cherie about his interest in the Acting Classes at the Academy when he spotted Duck not far down the hallway.

When Duck realized he had spotted her, she waved. Mytho then pushed his way passed the girls, holding an armful of books. Duck felt her heart flutter when she realized they were all her books.

_And he's my herooooo!_

She ran to him, meeting him halfway. They stopped when they were standing meters apart. Duck wanted to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him all over his face for saving her precious passing period time.

"Duck.." Mytho smiled softly.

"Yes, Mytho?" she asked, her eyes wide and shining.

Mytho's smile disappeared and he replaced it with a glare as he hit her head with a dicitonary.

"How could someone be so focused on going to class that they forget everything they're supposed to take with them?! You idiot!"

Duck rubbed her head and glared at him, "We don't get to wander around like you do, Mytho! And I'm not an idiot, I'm just... half responsible."  
"Half responsible? You're not responsible at all! Do you even think?"

Duck laughed, "Sometimes, I guess!"

Something made her shiver and goosebumps rise on her arms. She glanced behind Mytho to see warning glares on the faces of Mytho's fangirls.

"Ehh?" she took a cautious step back.

Mytho glanced out of the corner of his eye at the girls and smirked.

"Heh. Don't misunderstand, girls. Why would you be jealous of a girl who doesn't even have a relationship with me?"

Duck snatched her books from Mytho and hit him in his head with her English book.

"Jerk. Thanks for grabbing my books, but I would never want to date you, either!" with that, she turned on her heel and stormed off.

Mytho smiled softly before turning back to his crowd of fans.

}{

"So, Duck, did you get to see any of the Ravenwings?"

Lillie stopped her last minute studying and glanced at her strawberry haired friend, who was currently staring off into space. Duck sat next to the window, staring out at it as if in deep thought.

Judging by the blush in her cheeks, Lillie could tell something was definitely up.

Lillie reached over and pinched one of Duck's reddened cheeks and watched her reaction.

"Ow! Lillie, why did you...?"

Lillie narrowed her eyes, "I asked you a question... but maybe the sky is more interesting..?"

Duck blinked, "I... I'm sorry, I didn't even know you said anything."

"Alright. Who is it?"

Duck frowned, "Who is what?"

"The person you keep thinking about. Is it your grandmother? I'm sure she misses you back at the cottage... no wait, you look like you're thinking about a boy or something."

Duck reached up to touch her burning red cheek. "I.. I'm not thinking about a boy, what, are you kidding? I told you and Pike this morning that I..."

"... yeah, but the Ravenwings are here. I wouldn't even expect you to not notice them. Which one is it? You know, me and Pike are starting a fan club for Fakir! Oh, he so handsome and mysterious! You have to join us, but you'll have to battle us for the spot as Club president, unfortunately. I'm not going easy on you, either.. whether you want to settle this outside or in the classroom, I don't really..."

"Lillie."

"Ahem, um, sorry... You know I'm crazy about battles, they're just wonderful..."

Duck felt her cheeks burn again.

She had been thinking about a boy, but of course she wouldn't dare mention it to Lillie, she would misunderstand and do something like... like writing a love letter for her.

Something about Mytho Ravenwing had gotten Duck's full attention.

She just... couldn't stop thinking about him.

}{

Rue sighed, listening to the unusually cheery Principal explain the quickest routes to her classes.

The 18 year old flipped her curly raven hair and scanned the halls with her blood red eyes. Annoyed she hadn't been able to smell the pure heart within the school as quickly as her cousin had, she decided to hurry and find it before him.

Oh, Uncle would be so proud to find out she'd found the pure heart first!

_Maybe he would even give _me _the Raven throne instead._

Smiling at the thought of ruling over all of the black feathered bird demons as a queen, Rue shook her head. It wasn't exactly something she'd always wished for, but it would have been nice.

Maybe then she'd get all of the attention from the only man she'd known to replace her father. Sure, her uncle had raised her along with all of her cousins, but it was annoying how everything was focused on Mytho.

She could say she envied him, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it. He was much stronger than her, and a rightful heir by blood...

But in the Demon World, Rue was just a girl that lived in the palace. Not once had she been able to prove her strength.

Everyday, she'd either practice her magic alone, or ask her kind, older cousin Fakir if he could help her wield a sword in battle when she wasn't powerful enough to use her dark magic.

And just when a battle began, and Rue was ready to fight and snatch all the glory, Mytho would have destroyed their enemy before she could even raise her arm.

Even though Mytho was always the strongest one who saved (or rather ruined) the day, Rue wouldn't give up.

This time, she would step in before he would.

"Well... let's see... ah, yes. For 5th block, you will have Mr. Cat in the dancing studio. Before that, you'll have gym. You might get there easier if you avoid..."  
Rue bit back a gasp as she and the principal passed by one of the classroom doors.

She stiffened and stood still, letting the principal continue his rambling as he bounced happily down the hallway.

She had finally caught the scent.

It was beautiful... the metallic smell of healthy blood …. the fragrance of a cherry blossom... and the scent of...

…_.a Swan's heart...?_

Rue frowned slightly. There was definitely no mistaking it. This was the pure heart of a swan.

Turning slowly to peek into the rectangular glass window in the door, Rue scanned the classroom for someone who might have been the person with a pure heart.

Her eyes fell on a small, young girl with strawberry curls cascading down her back and eyes bluer than the sky or the sea. Her skin, paler than anyone else with the similar tone of a swan in human form, shimmered from the sun peeking through the window she sat next to.

_That's her._

Just to make sure, Rue used her raven vision to stare inside of her chest. Inside, she saw the girl's heart, a dazzling, blooming white rose with a single black petal in the very middle.

It was strange, but Rue had never seen many swan hearts before, so she wasn't sure if it looked correct.

However, a raven heart should have been a rose with black petals...

Shaking it off, Rue turned to call toward the principal.

"Excuse me! This block is over in 8 minutes, correct?"


End file.
